Project Overview
McMahon Services were engaged by Hansen Yuncken to undertake this high risk demolition project in the Adelaide Central Business District.
The project comprised of the demolition of the former People’s Choice Credit Union Bank situated at 50 Flinders Street. The existing building, a six-storey, solid brick construction was sandwiched between the Santos Head Quarters and Café 146 on the corner of Flinders Street and Gawler Place.
Safety on site was of paramount importance, with the restricted work space posing a significant risk.
Gantry Structures were erected to ensure the safety of pedestrians passing the site with daily safety sweeps of the exposed surfaces being undertaken to check for loose building parts or debris.
The four month deconstruction took place day and night to ensure the strict overall project program could be achieved.
Asbestos located in the front canopy of the building was removed by our specialist asbestos removal crews to strict standards, ensuring appropriate classification, handling, removal and disposal in line with legislative requirements.
The two storey section of the building, which fronted Gawler Place was removed first with a PC450 excavator, however due to the building being butted tight against the walls of the adjacent buildings, a 2.5m ‘Air Gap’ was demolished by hand using jack hammers and a 5 tonne excavator.
Once this section had been removed, McMahon Services were able to access the sixth storey section of the building, which was deconstructed using our PC1250 Ultra High Reach Demolition Excavator.
The building was lowered from the top down, with mechanical demolition being undertaken during the night shift to minimise disruption to adjacent office buildings and retail stores. Day shifts were used to sort waste into strict categories to allow maximum recycling of materials removed from site, with all materials excluding combustibles being sent to local recycling depots.
A specialist scaffold system was designed and erected to one of the exterior walls to protect the building located adjacent at 60 Flinders Street and to ensure the emergency fire exit was unobstructed at all times.
The building was reduced to ground level where the base slab was then broken up to expose a small basement area, which was backfilled with PM71.
Upon completion of our works, a flat, clean site was handed to our client to commence building operations for the new 14 level glazed commercial tower.
McMahon Services received significant praise from Hansen Yuncken, with Project Manager Danny Keogh receiving an award for outstanding Safety Management and performance at their annual Safety Awards in recognition of the project team’s efforts.
